Happy New Year!

Tonight we are making contributions from our 1% for Good fund.  This has to be one of the best parts of owning a business – giving to others.

This year, we shared revenue with the following organizations:

Capital Area Humane Society

WOSU public television

Wikipedia

Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association

National Audubon Society

The following organizations received in kind donations:

School for Young Children

Kent Academic Support and Advising Association

Random.org selected Alissa as our winner of the Nominate a Charity prize.  Congratulations!

EarthLust Holiday Sale!

Our friends at EarthLust sent the sweetest holiday card.  It’s a snow white embossed ornament with a double use.  In the spring, we can be plant the seed-infused ornament and it will grow wildflowers!  How cool!

To share EarthLust’s holiday spirit with you, we are discounting their 13 ounce, 20 ounce, and 1L stainless steel designer bottles 20% now through December 15.  Buy one for a gift or yourself today!

Please remember to nominate your favorite charity for our 1% for Good program by December 15.  One person who nominates will receive a gift pack from us valued over $60!

Cyber Monday Specials

Shop Baying Hound Monday only for some incredible deals! Spend over $40 and automatically receive free shipping within the US.

Choose a designer Earthlust bottle for 35% off.

Save 40% off the entire reclaimed yoga mat line from OLovesM.

Pamper your dog with an earthfriendly leash or collar and enjoy a savings of 35%.

Save 40% on water filters and purification tablets sure to please the camper on your list.

Finally, give the gift of insulation and protection with a water bottle carrier from BuiltNY, discounted 30%.

These specials are for one day and apply to in stock items only!  Hurry to BayingHound.com for the best selection.

Don’t forget to nominate a charity on the Baying Hound Howls blog. We are accepting nominations for our annual 1% for Good recipients. One random nominator will win a prize pack from our store worth over $60!

Nominate a Charity for 1% for Good

We believe that success is meant to be shared. Thus, we return a minimum of 1% of revenue to secular nonprofit organizations in our 1% for Good program.

Please nominate your favorite charity in the comment section below.  Listing their website URL (if they have one) will help us explore how they help the world. We will accept nominations until December 15.

We will choose charities based on their relevancy to our business mission and their impact per fundraising dollar.  We will announce the 2009 1% for Good recipients on December 20.

BONUS!  This year we will award a prize pack of an OLovesM Nancy Purse ($45.99), 18 ounce Klean Kanteen ($20.15) and Jess Bee Natural Lip Balm ($3.00)  to one random nominator.  Fill in the email field of the comment box (we will never share it) so we can find you if you win.

Make it Yourself: Holiday Gift Wrap

Image attributed to spottedsparrow

Are you seeking to reduce your winter holiday footprint? Try replacing throw away gift wrap with make it yourself gift wrap. Here are green alternatives for wrap and ribbon, from the Grays Harbor County Recycling Center.

Gift Wrapping

* Scarves, handkerchiefs or bandannas.
* Old posters and maps.
* Pages from a child’s coloring book taped together (especially nice for relatives who would enjoy the artwork).
* Old sheet music.
* Newspapers (foreign newspapers are great).
* Last year’s holiday paper (press with warm iron if wrinkled).
* Wallpaper scraps.
* Home-sewn cloth bags.
* Fabric scraps.
* Pictures or advertisements from magazines and catalogs.
* Sunday comic pages.
* A present in a present (for example, a hat in a matching scarf, jewelry in a wooden box, cookies in a reusable tin or cookie jar, barbecue grill utensils or picnic supplies in a tablecloth, kitchen gifts in towels or all-purpose cloths).
* A plain box decorated with leftover glitter, paint, markers, etc.
* A cake pan, basket or a wooden box.
* Reusable decorative bags. (B.B.Begonia grocery sacks and Blue Q handy totes are both good for gift giving.)

Bows and Ribbons Ribbon:

* Bows saved from other gifts.
* Reusable items, such as hair bows, ornaments, shoe laces or toys.
* Stencils or pictures from holiday cards pasted onto a plain brown paper bag or box.
* Last year’s holiday cards cut up for gift tags.
* Old neckties.
* Spices, such as bundled cinnamon sticks or cloves in mesh cloth.
* Scrap fabric, lace, yarn, rickrack and seam tape.
* Scarves.
* Combinations of beads and buttons.
* Dried or silk flowers.

Happy Halloween!

The hounds wish you wonderful tricks and treats today!

Devie the witch

Hawise dressed as a Hot Dog

Wool Clearance on Ebay.com

We have some of last season’s Ibex merino wool clothing and accessories on clearance at Ebay.com. Everything started below 50% off retail so you are sure to get a great deal!

Breast Cancer Research Benefit Nathan Bottle

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We are celebrating life and raising awareness with this pink ribbon flip straw bottle from Nathan Sports:

Nathan stainless steel bottles are BPA free and perfect for exercising with their bike bottle cage fitting shape.  The wide mouth is easy to clean and fill.

Nathan Sports donates 5% of their proceeds of each bottle to breast cancer research non-profits.

During the month of October we will double the benefit and donate an additional $2 from the sale of each pink ribbon bottle to the Stephanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research.

Show your support for breast cancer research and buy a Pink Ribbon Bottle today.

Three More Days!

Our SIGG Return Program ends in three days.  We will accept returns that are postmarked October 1, 2009 or before.  The 40% off discount coupons expire 30 days from the date they are issued so even if you mail your bottles now you will have plenty of time to take advantage of our offer.

There are also only three more days to use our 20% off coupon code for water bottles, NOTASIGG.

We will do a recap of the SIGG return program soon.  We are overwhelmed by the response!

SIGG Bottle Return Program FAQ

The response to our SIGG Bottle Return Program has been incredible.  Thank you to everyone who is participating and sharing news of our offer.

Many people have written in for more details.  Here are the most frequently asked questions and the answers.

“When does the program end?” We will accept returns until October 1, 2009.

“When will my coupon expire?” The 40% off coupon code returns receive expire 30 days from when we issue them. For example, if we receive your bottle on September 20, we will date the coupon expiration for October 20.

“Is this available worldwide?” Yes! We are happy to accept returns from other countries.  Your new bottles can be shipped international first class mail at reasonable rates.

“Can I use free shipping?”  Unfortunately, no.  We can not allow more than one coupon to be applied at the same time.

“Can I still send you bottles if I didn’t buy them from your store?”  Absolutely.  Anyone who wants to upgrade from a SIGG to a truly safe bottle is welcome to return them to us.

We invite you to email us if you have additional questions or need a personal recommendation.

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If you would like to participate, here’s how:

1) Send your SIGG bottle back to us at Baying Hound Ltd. 349 Tibet Rd Columbus OH 43202.  We recommend shipping with US parcel post or first class mail.  Include a note with your email address.

2) We will email you a discount code for 40% off a Klean Kanteen, Blue Q, Earthlust, Nathan Sports, Thinksport or Guyot Designs bottle as a replacement.

Blue Q, our latest and greatest bottles

3) All SIGG bottles collected will be recycled.